“It is a privilege to serve as the sponsor of the future USS Detroit and support her courageous crews throughout the ship’s lifetime,” said Mrs. Levin. “I look forward to bringing this ship to life as she will protect and defend our nation as part of the great U.S. Navy Fleet.”

Following christening and launch, Detroit will continue to undergo outfitting and testing before delivery to the Navy in 2015.

“It is an honor to continue supporting the U.S. Navy with these capable and flexible warships,” said Dale P. Bennett, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin’s Mission Systems and Training business. “The Lockheed Martin-led team’s LCS design is lethal, survivable, and affordable.These ships will help the Navy achieve its goal to increase forward presence, and can be upgraded or modified quickly to meet future missions.”

The U.S. Navy awarded the contract to construct Detroit in March 2011. The ship is one of five LCS currently under construction at Marinette Marine.

“On behalf of the shipyard workforce, we are incredibly proud to build these ships for the U.S. Navy,” said Jan Allman, MMC president and CEO. “We continue to streamline our processes so that we leverage the skillsets of our employees to produce quality seaframes.”

The Lockheed Martin-led industry team is building the Freedom-class ships, and has already delivered two ships to the U.S. Navy. USS Freedom (LCS 1) completed a successful deployment to Southeast Asia in 2013. USS Forth Worth (LCS 3) will deploy to Southeast Asia in 2014. Milwaukee (LCS 5) will be delivered to the U.S. Navy in 2015. Detroit (LCS 7) was christened and launched on Oct. 18, 2014. Little Rock (LCS 9), Sioux City (LCS 11) and Wichita (LCS 13) are under construction. Billings (LCS 15) will begin construction this year.

Earlier this year, the Navy funded Indianapolis (LCS 17) and LCS 19, which is yet to be named.